68 employees of Centaur Hotel in Srinagar to be regularized

After working as casual
labourers for 17 years, as many as 68 such workers of Centaur
Hotel in Srinagar would be regularised now with the Air India
management having issued instructions in this regard.

New Delhi: After working as casual
labourers for 17 years, as many as 68 such workers of Centaur
Hotel in Srinagar would be regularised now with the Air India
management having issued instructions in this regard.

The decision to regularise these employees came after
senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury held detailed discussions
with Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi yesterday.

He said both Yechury and senior Congress leader
Saifuddin Soz had been holding deliberations with the
Ministry, including former Civil Aviation Minister Praful
Patel, over the past several months.

The hotel, which is run by Air India`s wholly-owned
subsidiary Hotel Corporation of India, was to be handed over
by Air India to a consortium led by Jammu and Kashmir
government on a management contract, a process which is still
pending due to an ongoing court case.

"Orders have now been issued to regularise them. The
Ministry has also adopted a pro-active approach", Yechury
said, adding the main concern was to "give confidence to the
Kashmiri youth that the Indian people do not just sympathise
with them but also take concrete action".

"Employment opportunities need to be created for them.

There has been no private investment in the state and there is
an urgent need to increase employment opportunities there.

Regularisation of these employees should give confidence to
the young people of Kashmir", Yechury, the Chairman of
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and
Culture, told PTI.

In the mid-1990s, about 80 temporary workers were
"irregularly engaged" in the Centaur Lake View Hotel without
following proper procedures, Air India sources said, adding
that the officials responsible were subsequently dismissed
after CBI investigations.

The workers, who too were dismissed in 1996, moved the
Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court in Srinagar which ruled
in their favour. The management then appealed to the High
Court against the tribunal order, but later entered into an
out-of-court settlement with the workers.

As per the consent agreement registered in the court
of Jammu and Kashmir, the workers were again engaged in 2002
and have been working since then on temporary basis.

Of the 77 employees who joined duties then, 68 are
still on the Centaur rolls.

Airline sources said their appointment as regular
employees would be done after their police verification in
Srinagar.